Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

[Anonymous]

A rather nice mailer from Discover made its way to my mailbox today, but it's about as clear as the website "pre-qualify" function. Thishas an invitation number, a 0% interest offer and then a very small range APR afterwards (3% difference between the two numbers). I think the range means it's just a junk mailer, but I've never seen one with a three digit difference. Do their mailers say prequalified on them? 

(As a side note, if this is just a random mailer the quality is superb. Thick textured paper in an off-white. If I wasn't active on this board, I'd be impressed by Discover.)

[OmarGB9]

I think the pre approval offers from Disco with a small APR range are much more reliable than the website prequals.

[Anonymous]

Small ranges tend to be a better sign you'll be approved, but I always take Discover prequals with a pinch of salt.

[Anonymous]

The website gave me the same tiny range on the APR. I put in my husband's to see if there would be a difference, and his had a 12 digit range.

Discover was my one holdout, but I've got a crazy amount of inquiries. One paid collection that was paid recently, originated 3 years ago. Same for a paid tax lien, paid three years ago. No lates, 7% utilization, but my scores are meh at best.

Is it even worth trying? (They've said no to me before, in January, but my scores were crap and I had some report cleaning to do.)

[Anonymous]

I think you have a decent shot if online is showing the same small range.

I was approved with several paid collections showing, so it's possible. I think your scores are high enough.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Small ranges tend to be a better sign you'll be approved, but I always take Discover prequals with a pinch of salt.

---

You said it! There's nothing on there that says pre-qualified. It just says "To help you decide..." It's for the It Card, so nothing fancy. But the interest rate after the promo is far better than any of my other cards. I'm still not sure I want to waste the inquiry. Who do they usually pull? One or all three?

[Anonymous]

They usually pull just one.

[OmarGB9]

I got denied due to "insufficient credit history" (read: short AAoA and too many new accounts) and 24% util. I think my util did me in along with the new accounts.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, my AAoA is shot. Utilization is good, but AAoA is sitting at 1.5 years as of today.

[Anonymous]

My AAoA was about 6 months when I was approved.